At the end of this chamber
that was also lit with lamps, were curtains. Presently these were drawn
by two beautiful women in jewelled skirts and head-dresses, and behind
them on a dais I saw a couch and on the couch the old Inca Upanqui
looking feebler than when I had last beheld him in the Chanca city,
and very simply clad in a white tunic. Only on his head he wore the red
fringe from which I suppose he never parted day or night. He looked up
and said:
"Greeting, White-Lord-from-the-Sea. So you have come to visit me after
all, though you said that you would not."
"I have been brought to visit you, Inca," I answered.
"Yes, yes, they tell me they captured you in the battle, though I expect
that was by your own will as you had wearied of those Chancas. For what
_laso_ can hold a god?"
"None," I answered boldly.
"Of course not, and that you are a kind of god there is no doubt because
of the things you did in that battle. They say that the arrows and
spears melted when they touched you and that you shot and cut down men
by scores. Also that when the prince Urco tried to kill you, although
he is the strongest man in my kingdom, you knocked him over as though
he had been a little child and hacked his head open so that they do not
know whether he will live or die.
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